Trump administration proposes 25% tariffs on Brazil despite extensive US
trade surplus
[June 03, 2026] By
PAUL WISEMAN and MAURICIO SAVARESE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration proposed 25% tariffs on
imports from Brazil, charging that the world’s 10th-biggest economy
engages in trade practices that are “unreasonable’’ and that “burden or
restrict U.S. commerce.’’
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he received the
decision “with indignation.” He also blamed the decision by the U.S.
administration on his rival in October's elections, Sen. Flávio
Bolsonaro, who visited Washington last week. The senator is the son of
former President Jair Bolsonaro, once nicknamed “the Trump of the
Tropics” by his allies.
The announcement late Monday came after an investigation by the Office
of the U.S. Trade Representative, charging Brazil with lax
anti-corruption enforcement and unfair tariffs of its own, among other
things.
The U.S. has had a goods trade surplus with Brazil for years.
U.S Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that he and President
Donald Trump had “constructive’’ meetings with Lula and other Brazilian
officials. But he said that “we continue to have substantial differences
in resolving the issues identified in this investigation.’’
Lula on Tuesday cited other reasons for the punishing tariff proposal.
For the first time he named an American official as a hurdle to his
relations with Trump and once again he threatened to retaliate.
“I spoke to President Trump for three hours, and that Marco Rubio guy,
the head of the State Department, he is anti-Latin American,” Lula said.
“He is a deadly enemy of Cuba, a deadly enemy of many Latin American
countries. I already told Trump that he does not like Brazil.”
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond a request for
comment from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Brazil’s government said in a statement that its dialogue with American
counterparts, which includes “personal involvement of Presidents Lula
and Trump,” is being ”sabotaged by merely electoral and family matters”
of the Bolsonaros.
It added that it hopes “the recommendations do not become effective
tariffs.”
“But we stress we will adopt every measure that is capable of reducing
the damage that might be caused to the national economy, to the jobs and
the income of Brazilians,” the country's government said.
Last year, Trump had slapped Brazil with a 50% tariff, mainly to protest
its prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro for trying to overturn his electoral
defeat in 2022. Trump's relationship with Lula seemed to have improved
early May, when the Brazilian visited the White House.
But last week, the Trump administration designated two Brazilian gangs
as terrorist organizations, after Sen. Bolsonaro's visit. Lula opposes
the designation, which analysts say could bolster his political rival.
Sen. Bolsonaro published in his social media channels a statement he
said he sent to Rubio, in which he criticizes the potential new tariff
hike for it would cause “serious damages to the Brazilian people —
precisely the citizens that see the United States as a partner and a
friend.”
“I am writing to formally repeat the request I did to you in person,
that the U.S. do not impose tariffs on Brazil,” Sen. Bolsonaro said.
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A farm employee processes coffee berries at Boa Esperanca farm in
Braganca Paulista, Brazil, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner,
File)
Greer’s office has scheduled a public hearing July 6 on the proposed
tariffs.
Trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding, noted said
that the administration’s plan excludes more than half of U.S.
imports from Brazil, including aircraft and key minerals.
The Trump administration invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act of
1974 to launch the investigation into Brazil’s trade practices.
Sen. Bolsonaro travelled to meet officials in Washington last week
in the wake of a scandal at home in which he admitted receiving
funds from a disgraced banker. Another son, former lawmaker Eduardo
Bolsonaro, was also present.
On Tuesday, Trump posted a photo of the Bolsonaros in the Oval
office on his social media site.
“These sons of Bolsonaro can be worse than him. They are actually
sellouts of our country, they went there to ask a foreign nation to
meddle in Brazilian affairs,” Lula said in a speech to residents of
the city of Catalao, south of capital Brasilia. “They are traitors.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February that Trump overstepped his
authority by using a different law – the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 – to impose sweeping tariffs on
U.S. trading partners, including Brazil.
However, Section 301 tariffs have survived legal challenges, and the
administration is likely to use that authority to impose other
tariffs and to recoup some of the tax revenue lost when the Supreme
Court rejected the IEEPA tariffs.
Brazil’s president said that during his visit to Washington early
May, he handed Trump documents showing that the U.S. has a trade
surplus with Brazil.
Documents published by the U.S. Trade Representative show that last
year, U.S. exports to Brazil rose nearly 11% to $54.4 billion.
Brazilian exports to the U.S. fell 5.7% to $39.9 billion, meaning
the U.S. had a trade surplus of more than $14 billion.
The trade imbalance for services is more lopsided in favor of the
U.S., with services exports in 2024 reaching $29.6 billion,
quadruple the Brazilian services exports to the U.S.
“I am not going to cry about it,” Lula said. “If they (the U.S.)
don’t want to buy from us, we will sell to someone else.”
China has been Brazil’s biggest trading partner for about a decade.
____
Mauricio Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.
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